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AN ADDRESS ^^^a^U^^ 
ON EDUCATION, 



DELIVERED 



FEBRUARY aStll, A. D. 1851, 



BEFORE THE CURATOBS OF MASONIC COLLEGE 

AND OTHERS, 
3n tt)e illetl)oix0t Episcopal (!II)unl), 

LZ3ZXXVGTOZ7 9ffo., 



/ 



BY 



F. h. B^ SHAVER, PresH of the College. 



I-EXIHGTON: 

• PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF ^HE WESTERN MISSOURI WEEKLY EXPRESS. 



1851. 



-f ^ 



AN ADDRESS 
ON EDUCATION, 



DELIVERED 



FEBRUARY !l8th, A. D. 1881, 



BEFORE THE CURATOBS OF MASONIC COLLEGE 

AND OTHERS, 
In tl)e JUdljoiiist Episcopal €^tircl), 
LXszz»roTO»r xnxo., 

BY 

/ 

F. L. B. SHAVER, TresH of the College. . -^x\ 
tEXIlVOTON: -.--^ 

PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE WESTERN MISSOURI WEEKLY EXPRESS. 



1851. 






Lexington, March 5th, 1851. 
Gentlemen: In responding to the Resolution of the Board of Curators passed on yes- 
terday, and consenting to the publication of the Address on Education delivered on the 
evening of the 28th inst.. I must append something of an apology. 

The short space allowed for its preparation— only a little more than three weeks, — its 
having been composed at intervals in the duties of my profession, whilst preparing for 
and passing through the exciting scenes of our semi-annual Examination and Exhibi- 
tion,— the fact that I participated, and not slightly, in the labors of the Revival in pro- 
gress for more than a fortnight of the time in the Methodist Church in this City, and 
withal suffering from sickness and exhaustion,— all together rendered it almost impossi, 
ble for me to do justice either to the subject or myself. 

Under this consociation of discouraging circumstances, I might be permitted to decline 
acceding to your request. But, having had assurances Uom various sources, that its 
publication might be of some benefit to the good cause it advocates, however feebly, it i» 
submitted to your direction, with the earnest hope and sincere prayer that if it accomplish 
no real good, it may not be permitted to effect any permanent injury. 

With my best wishes for your individual happiness, and for the prosperity of the Ma- 
sonic College, 

I remain Yours, 

Respectfully an(i Fraternally, 

F. L. B. SHAVER, 
Board of Cubatobs > 
OP Masonic College. 5 



I 



TO 

ABINGDON, Va., 

A True Patron of Real Learning, 

A Sincere Friend of Unaffected Piety, 

A Zealous Advocate of Genuine Benevolence, 

And a Devoted Well-wisher of Human Improvement; 

Himself a Fine Exemplification 

Of True Politeness as a Gentleman, 

Of Solid and Varied Acquirements as a Scholar, 

And of Intelligent and Unwavering Zeal in the Cause of Education: 

Is most Respectfully and Affectionately Dedicated, 
Feeble Tribute to the Friendship that Falters not in Prosperity or Adversity, 

By his Friend and Brother, 
THE AUTHOR. 

" Ingenuas dididsse Jideliter artt* 



EmollU mores, nee sinit esseferos. 



AN ADDRESS ON EDUCATION, 
332 S. £. B. 0l)at)£r, 

President of the Masoaiic CoJSege, licxing^tou. Mo. 



In accordance with a resolution of the Curators of the Masonic Col- 
lege, at their last regular meeting requesting it, I am to attempt an ad- 
dress on the subject of Education. As all of significance and impres- 
siveness in my remarks, and of interest and profit in your attention on 
the present occasion, must depend on an intelligent use and application 
of the terms used, my first duty will be an effort to present a plain and 
practical exposition of these. This is as necessary, as the digging deep, 
and laying broad and firm the foundations, are, to the form, proportions, 
beauty and usefulness of the edifice. 

What then do we mean by Education? In determining this question 
a difficulty arises, which it is no easy matter to manage with any tolera- 
ble degree of success. Not that the theme is wanting in interest. Nor 
that it is one which has not given rise to manifold speculations. Its ac- 
knowledged importance, which will be the more strongly felt, the more 
attentively it may be studied, — and the existence of such a multiplicity 
of dissertations on the subject, which a teeming press has sent forth into 
the world, render it rather awkward even to follow where so many have 
led the way. For, if we plod along in an old and beaten track, the very 
triteness of the subjects we present, will tend to render them trifling in 
the estimation of an intelligent audience, and make our labor and your 
attention alike profitless and provoking. If we dare attempt a new and 
untried region, we may not happen to possess a sufficiently practical 
knowledge of the nature of the elements around it, and of the surest and 
safest method of controlling and directing them to the accomplishment 
of necessary and useful purposes, to constitute our serial voyage either 
pleasant or profitable to others or ourselves. 

In endeavoring, therefore, to select from the material at hand, either 
from that the assiduity of others may have furnished, or the circum- 
stances surrounding us may have suggested, our highest hope will be, to 
present you an entertainment, which, though plain and uninviting in ap- 
pearance, may yet be agreeable and salutary in its effects. 

To educate, according to Dr. Webster's definition of the word, is '■Ho 
instruct; to inform and enliglden the understanding] to instil into the 
mind principles erf arts, science, morals, religion and behavior.''^ The 
same distinguished lexicographer says, ^^ Education comprehends all 
that series of instruction and discipline ivhich is intended to enlighten 
the understanding, correct the temper, and for 7n the manners and habits 
of youthj and ft them for usefulness in their future stations.''^ 

In this array of the specific objects of Education, we have a particu- 



i 



ADDRESS ON EDUCATIO-N. 5 

lar application of the means, in adaptation to the general ends of a sound 
and wholesome training of all the powers of our nature. 

"Every teacher," says Mr Page in his Theory and Practice of Teach- 
ing, p. 65, before he begins the work of instruction, "should have some 
definite idea of what constitutes an education; otherwise he njay work 
to very little purpose. The painter, who would execute a beautiful pic- 
ture, must have beforehand a true and clear conception of beauty in his 
own mind. The same may be said of the sculptor. That rude block 
of marble, unsightly to the eyes of other men, contains the god-like 
form, the symmetrical proportion, the life-like attitude of the finished 
and polished statue; and the whole is as clear to the mental eye before 
the chisel is applied as it is to his bodily vision when the work is com- 
pleted. With this perfect ideal in the mind at the outset, every stroke of 
the chisel has its object. Not a blow is struck, but is guided by consum- 
mate skill; not a chip is removed, but to develop the ideal of the artist. 
And when the late unsightly marble, as if by miraculous power, stands 
out before the astonished spectator in all the perfection of beauty, — when 
it almost breathes and speaks, — it is to the artist but the realization of 
his own conception. 

Now, let the same astonished and delighted spectator, with the same 
instruments, attempt to produce another statue from a similar block. On 
this side he scores too deep; on the other he leaves a protuberance; here 
by carelessness he encroaches on the rounded limb; there by accident he 
hews a chip from off" the nose; by want of skill one eye ill-mates the 
other; one hand is distorted as if racked by pangs of the gout, the other 
is paralyzed and death-like. Such would be his signal failure. Thus 
he might fail a thousand times. Indeed it would be matter of strange 
surprise if in a thousand efforts he should once succeed. 

Now the difference between the artist and the spectator lies chiefly in 
this, — the one knows beforehand what he means to do, the other works 
without any plan. The one has studied beauty till he can see it in the 
rugged block; the other only knows it when it is presented to him. The 
former having an ideal, produces it with unerring skill; the latter, having 
no conception to guide him, brings out deformity. 

"What sculpture is to the block of marble," says Addison, "education 
is to the human soul;" and may I not add, that the sculptor is a type of 
the true educator; while the spectator of whom I have been speaking, 
may aptly represent too many false teachers who without study or fore- 
thought enter upon the delicate business of fashioning the human soul, 
blindly experimenting amidst the wreck of their heaven-descended ma- 
terial, maiming and marring, with scarce the possibility of final success, 
— almost with the certainty of a melancholy failure." 

The short-sighted views and contracted policy which have so gene- 
rally prevailed, and yet have their predominance in many portions of the 
world, may be farther illustrated by reference to the work of the statuary 
on the block of marble. It is as if an artist should conclude, that be- 
cause his labor had progressed so far as to the completion of the eyes, 
the mouth, the hands, and the feet, that therefore it was as perfect as the 
skill of man could make it, or as the finish and elegance of the figure 



(j ADDRESS ON EDUCATION. 

demanded. In all other respects, the mis-shapen mass might remain in 
all the roughness and rudeness of unpolished nature, if it had but the 
semblance of the four important and essential appendages mentioned 
above, it would be considered as lacking nothing. So in the fitting out 
the young beginner for the untried responsibilities of his future career, it 
used to be regarded as an adequate and ample preparation for his event- 
ful journey through life, if his mighty mind had made the prodigious ac- 
quisitions of Spelling, Beading, Writing and Arithmetic! If he had 
eyes to see, a mouth to speak, hands to handle, and feet to locomote 
withal, he had all that was necessary for the finished model of a man. 

Hence, the author of the Essay on Education in Chamber's Encyclo- 
pedia of Information for the people, remarks, "till within the last few 
years, the idea commonly entertained with respect to general elementary 
education, comprehended only certain branches of instruction familiarly 
known by the terms, reading, writing and arithmetic. A "liberal" edu- 
cation added ancient and modern languages and mathematics. Such 
formed the entire round of accomplishments which were supposed, with 
the accident-directed training of the domestic circle, to be sufficient for 
the youth, of even the highest classes, for entering upon the various du- 
ties of life. Nor was this scanty education thought requisite for all. A 
vast class was allowed to exist without the least tincture of school-learn- 
ing of any kind, as not being supposed to require any knowledge be- 
yond that which immediately fitted them for the laborious duties by which 
they earned their daily bread. 

The active period which has elapsed since the conclusion of the last 
war, (1815,) has been distinguished by nothing more than by the enlarge- 
ment of our ordinary means with respect to education. It may be said 
to be now universally acknowledged that all — all, from the peer to the 
peasant — ought to be educated, however ther<3 may be differences of 
opinion as to the means of educating, and of what education should con- 
sist. It is also generally admitted that reading, writing and arithmetic, 
even when effectually taught, constitute but a branch of education, being 
merely instrumentary accomplishments, the acquirement and cultivation 
of which tend in a certain degree to improve the intellect. The study 
of the ancient classical languages, while still admitted by candid per- 
sons to be also a means of improving the intellect, is now no longer up- 
held, excepting by a hw, as the grand instrument of liberal education, 
the character in which it was generally regarded a few years ago. It is 
now seen that this study gives to the youth of the middle and upper 
classes but a portion, and in many instances, the least requisite portion, 
of what they should know on entering the world. 

The old elements of education may therefore be said to have sunk 
from their former character of all-sufficiency, and to have taken their 
place as only parts of a complete education." 

Having premised so much by way of a condensed statement of the 
plan and extent of education, I shall now proceed to a more definite 
consideration of the practical meaning and application of the subject. 

"The primary meaning of the term educate, from the Latin educare, 
to lead or bring out," says the same author, "does not ill-express the 



ADDRESS ON EDUCATION. 



first f^reat principle of the science. It may be held to assume that the 
human being is naturally in a comparatively rude and inert condition, 
and that external forces must be applied to draw forth his faculties into 
their full activity and power, and bring them to their highest degree of 
refinement and nicety of application. This is, in reality, a large part of 
the business of Education, taking even the widest view of its purposes. 
A full definition would further include the regulation and discipline of 
those moral feelings on which our actions are mainly dependent, and 
also the communication of such parts of knowledge as the circumstances 
and prospects of individuals may render necessary. 

Before correct views can be entertained with regard to education, or 
proper steps can be taken for working it out into practice, it is obvious 
that a distinct notion ought to be attained as to the character of the being 
to be educated. Man is this being; but the question ''What is man?'' 
is one to which science does not yet enable us to give an answer which 
all would acknowledge as right. For this reason, it is totally impossible 
for any writer to present a theory of education which would be generally 
received as a perfect science. The subject must needs partake of the 
obscurity and uncertainty which as yet rest upon at least the mental cha- 
racter of man; and it will only advance in clearness and precision, in 
proportion as progress is made in a correct system of mental philosophy. 

While fully acknowledging the difficulty under which every candid 
writer on education must lie, the present would humbly endeavor to make 
the nearest approach to a correct system of which his views of the nat- 
ural character of the human being will admit. He considers the race as 
exhibiting a definite mental constitution, in all its parts harmonizmg with 
the surrounding universe. He considers this constitution as embracing 
a variety of faculties, for sensation and action, which it is the business 
of the educator to awaken, strengthen, and regulate, so that each person 
may arrive at the best condition of which his character is susceptible, 
and most thoroughly fulfil the design of his being in all its various re- 
spects. He views, in the first place, the faculties of the physical frame 
as requiring to be duly exercised, so as to bring them to the utmost hmit 
of their native power and health. Of the mental system, he views those 
faculties which constitute the intellectual powers as requiring to be drawn 
out, exercised, and instructed, so that they may operate readily and effi- 
ciently for all the various purposes which they are designed to serve; and 
those again, which constitute the moral feelings as calling for the exertion 
upon them of all external moral influences— at the head of which stands 
the revealed will of God with regard to human destiny— in order that 
the best possible state of feeling may be attained with regard both to the 
aflTairs of the present and to a future state of existence. Upon these 
views of man's character a scheme of education may be founded, which 
rational persons, as yet unprepossessed by other notions, will, bethinks, 
frenerally acknowledge as accordant with common sense, however unpre- 
pared they may be to trace it to its foundation." As to the particular ap- 
plication and practical exemplification of the process of educating, as 
manifested in individual improvement, usefulness and enjoyment, it may 
be remarked that "education is development; it is not instruction merely 



8 ADDRESS ON EDUCATION. 

— knowledge, facts, rules — communicated by the teacher; but it is disci- 
pline, it is a waking up of the mind, a growth of the mind, — growth by 
a healthy assimilation of wholesome aliment. It is an inspiring of the 
mind with a thirst for knowledge, growth, enlargement, — and then a dis- 
ciplining of its powers so far that it can go on to educate itself. It is the 
arousing of the mind to think, without thinking for it; it is the awaken- 
ing of its powers to observe, to remember, to reflect, to combine. It is 
not a cultivation of the memory to the neglect of everything else; but it 
is a calling forth of all the faculties into harmonious action. If to pos- 
sess facts simply is education, then an encyclopedia is better educated 
than a man. 

It should be remarked that though knowledge is not education, yet there 
will be no education without knowledge. Knowledge is ever an incident 
of true education. No man can be properly educated without the ac- 
quisition of knowledge; the mistake is in considering knowledge the end!, 
when it is either the incident or the means of education. This disci- 
pline of the mind, then, is the great thing in intellectual training; and 
the question is not, How much have I acquired? — but. How have my 
powers been strengthened in the act of acquisition?" 

Otherwise, let us adopt the patent right method of the far-famed Dr 
Syntax. Let us convert our school rooms into educational laboratories, 
and with manifold stills, and retorts, and measures, and funnels, proceed 
with systematic scientificalness, to prepare a varied and extensive assort- 
ment of all literary nostrums, in a state of liquid consistency. Then, 
with the superadded implements of the mechanician's handi-craft — ^Hhe 
instruments to teach Nateral Philosophy loith,^^ as I once heard of a 
person designating the Apparatus of the Mathemetician, — let us go 
ahead on the heads of our juvenile patients, and exhibit double doses of 
the double-refined, powerfully concentrated essences of ^^ Book Larnin,** 
until they are not only brim full, but actually running over with the pre- 
cious and priceless condiments of literary charlatanry. 

But to return. In the pertinent language of Mr Fox, in his Lecture 
before the American Institute, in 1835, "Education has reference to the 
whole man — the body, the mind, and the heart; its object, and, when 
rightly conducted, its effect is, to make him a complete creature after his 
kind. To his frame it would give vigor, activity, and beauty; to his 
senses, correctness and accuteness; to his intellect, power and truthful- 
ness; to his heart, virtue. The educated man is not the gladiator, nor 
the scholar, nor the upright man alone; but a just and well-balanced 
combination of all three. Just as the educated tree is neither the large 
roots, nor the giant branches, nor the rich foliage, but all of them 
together. 

If you would mark the perfect man, you must not look for him in the 
Circus, the University, or the Church, exclusively; but you must look for 
one who has ^mens sana in corj)ore sano;^ a healthful mind in a healthy 
body. The being in whom you find this union, is the only one worthy to 
be called educated. To make all men such, is the object of education.'* 

Just here, then, a question of most momentous importance presents it- 
self. On whom devolves the duty — to whom will you confide the busi- 



ADDRESS ON EDUCATION. 9 

ness of education? I mean, in the first place, to whose agency, as a 
matter of professional obligation and responsibility will you entrust this 
important matter? 

The consideration of this subject is invited, yea earnestly insisted on, 
because upon its settlement depends not only the present good, but the 
future, and it may be the eternal welfare of your children and your- 
selves. A false step here may be fatal. Consequences may ensue, that 
no regrets can eradicate or remedy. Tendencies may be evolved that 
no mortal means can arrest, — no human skill can check or evade, — and 
that like the swollen torrent, may roll on with accelerated velocity--with 
accumulated power, until they dash the struggling victim of fond indul- 
gence or penurious folly, vainly shrieking for the aid that cannot come 
in the day of his destruction,— down the^deep abyss of everlasting woe! 

Should it be permitted then, to become a matter of dimes and dollars 
simply? And yet, how very frequently it is permitted to take that form 
alone! "In other things besides education men are wiser. They follow 
more the teachings of nature and of common sense. But in education, 
where a child has but one opportunity for mental training, as he can be 
a child but once,— where success, unerring success, is everything to him 
for time and eternity, and where a mistake may be most ruinous to him, 
— in education, men often forget their ordinary wisdom and providence, 
and commit the most important concerns to the most incompetent hands. 
*'The prevailing opinions," says Geo. B. Emerson, "in regard to this art 
are such, as the common sense of mankind and the experience of cen- 
turies, have shown to be absurd as to every other art and pursuit of life. 
To be qualified to discourse upon our moral and religious duties, a man 
must be educated by years of study; to be able to administer to the body 
in disease, he must be educated by a careful examination of the body in 
health and in sickness, and of the effects produced on it by external 
agents; to be able to make out a conveyance of property, or to draw a 
writ, he must be educated; to navigate a ship, he must be educated by 
years of service before the mast or on the quarter deck: to transfer the 
products of the earth or of art from the producer to the consumer, he 
must be educated; to make a hat or a coat, he must be educated by 
years of apprenticeship; to make a plow, he must be educated; to make 
a nail, or a shoe for a horse or a mule, he must be educated; but to pre- 
pare a man to do all these things:— to train the body in its most tender 
years, according to the laws of health, so that it should be strong to re- 
sist disease; to fill the mind with useful knowledge, to educate it to com- 
prehend all the relations of society, to bring out all its powers into full 
and harmonious action; to educate the moral nature, in which the very 
sentiment of duty resides, that it may be fitted for an honorable and wor- 
thy fulfilment of the public and private offices of life; to do alMhis is 
supposed to require no study, no apprenticeship, no preparation!" 

Many teachers, therefore, encouraged by this unaccountable mdifter- 
ence in the community, have entered the teacher's profession, without 
any idea of the responsibilities assumed or of the end to be secured by 
the'ir labors, aside from receiving, at the close of the term, the compen- 
sation for their services in dollars and cents. And even many who have 

B 



XO i\DDllESS ON EDUCATION. 

entered this profession with good intentions, many have made most de-- 
plorable mistakes from a want of an adequate idea of what constitutes an 
education. Too often has educating a child been considered simply the 
act of imparting to it a certain amount of knowledge, or of ^^carrying it 
through''^ a certain number of studies, more or less. Education has too 
frequently been held to be a cultivation of the intellectual to the neglect 
of the moral powers; and the poor body, too, except among savages, has 
had but little share in its privileges or benefits. 

In a very large number of our schools, the physical and the moral 
have been sacrificed to the intellectual. Even some of our public speak- 
ers have dwelt upon the necessity of intelligence to the perpetuity of our 
free institutions, scarcely seeming to be aware that intelligence, without 
moral principle to direct and regulate it, might become the very engine 
through which evil men might effect our overthrow. Who has not seen 
that an educated man without virtue is but the more capable of doing, 
evil? Who does not know that knowledge misdirected, becomes, instead 
of a boon to be desired, a bane to be deprecated?" 

In the selection of teachers then, look well to the standard of their 
mental and moral qualifications. The purer and more exalted these may 
be, the more safely may you commit to their direction the destiny of 
your children. Let no brilliancy of talent, no amenity of manner, no 
exaltation of position, stand in the stead of those sterling qualities of 
mind and heart, which constitute the true scale of excellence in the 
trust-abiding man, — the duty-discharging teacher. 

Before dismissing this branch of the subject, permit another remark 
in passing along. If you have confidence in our competency and fideli- 
ty, permit us to judge of the extent of the acquirement of those placed 
under our charge, and allow us to direct their studies in the prosecution 
of their education. -'I may here remark," says Mr Page, "that in all 
my intercourse with the young, whether in the common or the higher 
school, I have found no greater evil than that of proceeding to the more 
difficult branches before the elementary studies have been mastered. It 
is no uncommon thing to find those who have "attended" to the higher 
mathematics — algebra, geometry, and the like — whose reading and writ- 
ing are wretched in the extreme, and whose spelling is absolutely intole- 
rable! They have been pursuing quadratics, but are unable to explain 
why they "carry one for every ten;" — they have wandered among the 
stars in search of other worlds, by the science of astronomy, without 
knowing the most simple points in the geography of our own; they have 
studied logarithms and infinite series, but cannot be safely trusted to add 
a column of figures, or to compute the simple interest upon a common 
note! In short, they have studied every things except what is most use- 
M to be known in practical life, and have really learned nothing! 

"Now if this evil — grievous and extensive as it is at present — is des- 
tined ever to be abated, it is to be accomplished by the instrumentality of 
the teacher, acting in his appropriate sphere, in the capacity of a direc- 
tor as to the course of study for the young. He must not be a man who 
can merely /^«cA, but who understands the high import of a true educa- 
tion, and knows how to prescribe the order of its progress; one, in short, 



ADDRESS ON EDUCATICN. W 

who will never attempt to erect a showy superstructure upon an insuffi- 
cient foundation." 

If all this be true of a region as far removed from this, as the State of 
New York toward the rising of the sun, the point whence wise men are 
-uniformly supposed to "travel in a westerly direction from the Temple" 
of wisdom, what may not exist in upper Missouri, where so very recent- 
ly the Red man roved unrestrained after the Buffaloe and the Bear! 
Give us fair opportunity then, of saving you and your sons from the blush 
of shame — of shielding ourselves from the charge either of incompeten- 
cy in not knowing how, or of unftiithfulness in not taking the trouble, to 
direct a thorough and permanent course of instruction in all departments 
for your sons and wards. 

But, although some of us sustain the relation of teachers profession- 
ally, we are nevertheless, not alone in the duties and dangers — the pri- 
vileges and perils of instructors. The potential influence of public opi- 
nion, as it may be brought to bear, approvingly or reprehendingly on the 
habits and deportment of the Students, may be a powerful help or a tre- 
mendous hindrance to the success of our best intended efforts. You 
may by your cheering smiles, or indeed simply by your unreproving 
silence, enhance the unmeaning pleasures of "^brainless idleness, or 
heighten the dogged defiance of reckless insubordination. 

So far, in the knowledge we have of the history of the past, and the 
understanding we possess of the position of present circumstances, we 
can but sincerely congratulate you, and as truly felicitate ourselves and 
the members of College, upon the exhibition of a sound and healthful 
influence on the part of the citizens of Lexington and vicinity. We 
thank you most heartily, for the interest you have'manifested in our pros- 
perity and the advancement of the Students, and pray most devoutly that 
it may return in tenfold blessings on yourselves and families. 

Ladies, we appeal to you particularly, and ask the aid of your com- 
manding influence in this all-important enterprise. We invoke the al- 
most witchery of your charms and the power of your virtues, not as the 
petted playthings of an unoccupied hour, with whom the idle may while 
away the many minutes that their vacant stupidity might otherwise ren- 
der intolerable; — nor yet as the unenvied divinities of love-sick swains, 
who heap their nauseating ditties and moon-struck monodies upon your 
altars,— but we look up to you in the high and holy relations you sustain 
to the interests of society and the destinies of the young, as mothers, 
sisters and relatives, and entreat your countenance and assistance. In 
the important position you occupy as the earliest and best friends of our 
youth, it is to your presence and smiles — your kindness and care, that 
home owes all its attractions, and life many of its most cherished enjoy- 
ments. Gathering the young around your feet in the endearments of 
the hallowed domestic circle, you can instil principles of virtue, and in- 
fuse a spirit of honorable emulation, that will bear your sons and brothers, 
and relatives, safely and successfully on through every step of their toil- 
some ascent to the Temple of Knowledge. "Thus you may aid, very 
powerfully too, in establishing a character which in its fervor and fidelity, 
may win for its possessor a usefulness and distinction that may not only 



12 ADDRESS ON EDUCATION. 

survive your entrance to another and a better world than this, but may 
be destined to live upon the bright historic page when gems, and crowns, 
and monuments shall moulder into dust. And it requires no brilliant ar- 
ray of talents, no mighty efforts of herculean power to accomplish this. 
It is comparatively an easy work, and demands principally good sense 
and unwearied patience. Watch carefully the habits of those under 
your care, and seek constantly to amend the manners, to enlarge the un- 
derstanding, and improve the heart. Warn them of the dangers insepa- 
rable from idleness, and incite an invincible application to study. See 
that they are at their books each evening, diligently conning the lessons 
of the ensuing day, and when they appear in the recitation rooms of the 
different Professors, the readiness and correctness with which they may 
translate a difficult passage in the Classics, — the certainty and facility 
with which they may demonstrate a difficult problem in Mathematics, 
will be a pleasure to us, a praise to them, and a crowning honor to you. 

Neglect these little things, until habits of idleness and viciousness have 
been formed and strengthened, by roaming about the streets and loung- 
ing or loafering in stores, and offices, and shops, and bar-rooms, and 
they will not only become bad scholars and worse men, but will be a dis- 
grace to you and a pest to the community. 

To my companions "in the patience and tribulations of teaching," 
whether of the College, the Institute, the High, or Common Schools of 
our city and vicinity, — for though occupying different departments of 
usefulness and responsibility, we are nevertheless colaborers in the same 
glorious cause, — permit me to address a few reflections. We have diffi- 
culties and discouragements of a peculiar and trying character. But 
we have also, encouragements, amply sufficient to sustain and cheer us 
onward in our self-denying work and labor of love. The internal con- 
sciousness of the purity of our purposes, imparts a consolation that is a 
perpetual well-spring of joy to our hearts. A fore-reaching anticipation, 
that needs not the ken of prophetic vision to render it an assured realiza- 
tion, — of the certain reward of our labors in the improvement, enjoy- 
ment, usefulness, and honorable reputation of our Pupils, is a present 
and powerful compensation for our toils. And the smile of God upon 
our efforts, is a constant sunshine to the soul. 

Moreover, we are in the very best company. ''Could we evoke from 
their classic shades, their Parnassean heights, and their Academic groves, 
the mighty masters of the Teaching Art, a convocation would assemble 
such as earth never saw! 

In that wondrous assembly, kings of the earth would themselves be 
awed, before a sublimer majesty, and stand uncovered in a more august 
presence. Sages of the world, venerable with the ponderous lore of 
hoary antiquity, and severe in the gravity of all philosophy, and grand 
in the ineffable dignity of thought, would there be seated in the solemn 
sanctity of gods, a second Roman Senate, to strike beholders with awe! 

There would sit masters in all departments of science and literature. 
Men would be there, who in the depth of retirement, had prepared law for 
the government of the world, — men, who had abstracted and condensed 
principles for all that is startling in discovery, admirable in invention, 



ADDRESS ON EDUCATION. 13 

dseful in practice, — authors, whose talents and rare genius had crowded 
libraries with tomes on all profound metaphysics and abstract thought, 
and all morals; and, at the same time, had playfully scattered 'thoughts 
that breathe, and words that burn,' over the leaves of ever-changing 
periodicals, and who, stooping from their loftiness, and staying in a flight 
through purer air, had furnished the school-room with books, by which 
children and youths could be trained in knowledge and religion. Behold 
there also, the parents of legislation, whose theories have been reduced 
to practice by their disciples, mighty statesmen and lawyers. Behold 
there, in short, men to whom the world owes nearly all valuable and 
lasting in sciences, arts, literature, law, medicine, divinity, war — in all 
things! 

The very names of some teachers are volumes; — Socrates, Plato — 
Reed, Stewart — Chalmers. Our pages could be crowded with a rich 
catalogue of worthies, who, during life, or a part of life were teachers, — 
Dionysius, Philippe, of France, Southard, a Secretary of the Navy, 
Parr, Valpy, Arnold, Nott, Alexander, Miller, Wayland, McVean. Add 
the distinguished women, such as Sigourney, Kirkland, Williard, and 
many beside. ^^Sed prata bibereni, claudite rivos.^^ [Hall, p. 42.] 

Let it be our highest em'ilation, to be in some humble degree worthy 
•of this lofty and priviledged companionship, even though it be only to 
sit at the feet of these master spirits of the world of letters, and look up 
to an exalted dignity of usefulness and distinction we may not hope to 
«qual. 

To the Students present, it is scarcely necessary that we address even 
ti very few reflections. Elsewhere, at various times and in divers ways, 
we have had occasion to speak to you of the relations subsisting be- 
tween us, and of the obligations you are under to the Institution, and the 
families of which you are members, to yourselves, and to the world 
iiround you, in whose active duties and stern responsibilities you are 
:soon to be eager and interested participants. 

Standing here then in the presence of God! — in this the place of His 
Holy Worship, and in the hearing of this assembly, we charge you to 
Temember, that with the aflection of a Father, — the sympathy of a 
Brother, — the kindness of a Friend, — and the concern of a Teacher, we 
"have warned, admonished, exhorted and persuaded you to that diligence 
in study, — uprightness of deportment, and conscientious discharge of 
every duty which you owed to the Father in Heaven, to yourselves and 
those around you. And, it would not be just, either to you or to our- 
selves, to withhold our cheerful testimony to the respectful deference, se- 
rious attention, and prompt obedience you have most generally mani- 
fested toward us. Maintain inviolate, the honorable position you now 
occupy. Never consent to be, like some alas! who have made them- 
selves mere hangers-on in College, who, child-like play around the tether 
of an apron-string, but place your standard high, and push on to the 
goal of your best and brightest hopes. And whilst some turn away to 
become "hewers of wood and drawers of water," let your banners be 
incribed "JEa:ce/sior," in all the lofty impulses of a noble ambition. 
Respecting the Masonic College, its situation and prospects, I may 



J^4 ADDRESS ON EDUCATION. 

be permitted to say a few words in closing these imperfect and desultory 
remarks. The thousands of dollars that have been expended, and the 
time and toil that have been devoted to its establishment, are very far 
from being useless and unprofitable investments. True, it has not yet 
begun to develop the full strength of its energies, or realize the value and 
importance of its destiny. The time for all this is not yet, but that better 
day is coming, as certainly as the vigorous strength and ready discre- 
tion of well-developed manhood, succeed the departing weakness and 
increasing maturity of a healthy and hearty boy-hood. 

Circumstances demand a particular reference to the Preparatory De- 
partment, under its present arrangement, inasmuch as a prejudice is 
afloat concerning it. The employment of Adjuncts, who devote one 
portion of their time to the duties of instruction, and the other to the 
privileges of study, is neither a novelty, nor an experiment in the history 
of Colleges. It has succeeded admirably elsewhere, why may it not be 
crowned with success here? I know of no good reason. 

In regard to the competency of the young Gentlemen now in that De- 
partment, their fidelity in the discharge of their duties, and the order and 
proficiency of their Students, having had opportunity of daily observa- 
tion, I can bear most cheerful testimony. In all respects, they may 
safely challenge comparison with any other Teachers within my knowl- 
edge, in or out of the City. From our Patrons, wc have heard no com- 
plaint. On the contrary, a gentleman of high respectability, not long 
since volunteered the remark to one of the Faculty, that his younger 
brother, a Student in the Preparatory Department, had learned more 
during this his first session in College, than ever before. One such tes- 
timonial as this, is worth moredian a dozen speculations, from those who 
have had no means of obtaining practical information of the working of 
the system. Our Adjuncts are working men, and operate according to 
rule. They are faithful teachers during such time as they have engaged 
to teach, and as diligent Students for the remainder. They do not blend 
and confound the two together, and thus destroy the good effect of both, 
as some have asserted. 

The position of the College is highly favorable. Located in a com- 
munity possessing many of the elements of the most substantial respec- 
tability. — rapidly increasing in wealth, intelligence and piety, it is sur- 
rounded by a high-toned, moral and manly sentiment, that instantly re- 
bukes and frowns down all vice and irregularity, and as imperatively re- 
quires a consistent and gentlemanly deportment in all the relations of 
life. And, when the vicious or the vagrant have intruded their loathsome 
presence among us, they have met with a reception in front, and flank, 
and rear, so hot and uncomfortable, as to make them beat a hasty re- 
treat to places and companions more congenial with their tastes. 

Its immediate proximity to a place already large, and rapidly increas- 
ing in population, is another guaranty of its success and prosperity. Mr 
Thos. Rainey, the intelligent Editor of the -'Ohio Teacher," in his "Notes 
of an Eastern Tour," gives us some memoranda of his visits to the Col- 
leges in "the land of steady habits." As his views of the cause of the 
flourishing condition of one of these are pertinent to our present purpose, 
we shall offer them to your consideration. 



ADDRESS ON EDUCATION. X5 

*'0n visiting New Haven, and reflecting on the success of Yale Col- 
lege, we nalurally inquire, why is it that other institutions, commencing 
under equally as favorable auspices, do not rival her success? This 
question leads to a great and vital point in Collegiate education, in my 
estimation one secret of the failure of three-fourths of the institutions or- 
ganized at the present day; the fact that they are nearly all isolated from 
human society. No error more fatal to success, or more humiliating to 
humanity, exists among those who, having sound hearts, certainly enter- 
tain very limited views of the great aims of all culture. 

"There are but few young men or boys sufficiently ascetical to be wil- 
ling to be incarcerated in the dungeon-like walls of an isolated College, 
merely for the purpose of groaning, dwindling and writhing away their 
time, over a few Latin and Greek books; the reward is not sufficient; or, 
if it be, this is not the period when it can be thus estimated. Every 
young man. while in College, is preparing, or ought to be preparing for 
society; and after realizing the endearments of home, from his earlier 
hours up to the time when his imprisonment commences, is unwilling to 
be cut off suddenly from the bright faces of companions; and generally 
yields so many of his thoughts to his immediate condition that he neg- 
lects the various interests of his studies, and becomes either a hypochon- 
driacal drone, or an incorrigibly reckless wretch. This course is wholly 
unnatural; and it would be unreasonable to expect that an institution 
could flourish when cut loose from all the refinements and sympathies of 
social life. The hypochondriac loses his spirit and emulation, and 
the mischievous idler his self-respect, and veneration for everything good. 

"Man, whenever isolated from the society and friendship of virtuous 
and intelligent females, becomes a ruffian, and invariably retraces, to a 
certain extent, the steps that lead to barbarism. He needs sympathy, 
encouragement and tenderness, and without them, or the hope of them, 
has no object to labor for. And, is not the Student a man in all his sym- 
pathies and all his affections? Otherwise, he would not look forward in 
the pleasurable anticipation that always characterizes his ideas of Com- 
mencement Day. Nor is this all. Nothing exerts so powerful and salu- 
tary an influence over the morals of Students, as the kind supervision' 
and approving smiles of those they admire and reverence in society; and 
I have often thought that this influence was not appreciated by those 
holding situations m which they might encourage the Student. I have 
no doubt that in the prime organization of Yale, it was a primary object 
to exclude all society; yet natural causes and the great disposition to 
early colonial centralization, have built up one of the most interesting; 
cities in our whole country. But I cannot believe that Yale would at this 
day have between five and six hundred Students, if New Haven had a 
population of but a few hundred or a thousand. The Student knows nc 
greater curse than being placed in a small village, having a few hundred 
inhabitants, where every individual knows most about his neighbor's, or 
rather his enemy's business, and where a little insignificant circle of so- 
cial disputants canvass and recanvass the character of each other to 
death! The world has, I believe, no wounds so festering in malignity, 
jealousy, backbiting and littleness as those that too often prevail in viL- 



15 ADDRESS ON EDUCATION. 

I ages; and the Student breathes the sweetly poisoned vapor in, until he 

is inflated with his own importance, or disgusted with existence. Let 

our Colleges be located in the large places "where men do congregate," 

and their learning will not be an abstraction, but will spread its influence- 
around." 

The unquestionable verity of these facts, and the inference fairly flow- 
ing from them, have been demonstrated again and again in the history of 
Colleges and Schools. Place a body of Students in a community of 
the right stamp, — among whose characteristics are to be found, real gen- 
tility, pure morality, and unaffected piety, and you surround them with 
influences that will act as a rein and a curb to check and restrain them 
from improper deportment, and which will be as a spur and incentive ta 
an honorable emulation in all the departments of useful knowledge — in 
all the refinements of social intercourse. Reverse this picture, and all 
the disgusting and degrading lineaments of mind and manner, whicli 
would necessarily constitute the revolting sketch, will start out on the 
moral canvass, in all the monstrous deformity of vice. Or if you could 
place them in the solitary seclusion of the anchorite, — or rather, perhaps, 
in the congregated iniquity of the garrison or the camp, by separating 
them alike from the good and evil — the rude and the polite, — the incar- 
nate spirit of mischief, freed from its wonted restraints, and ranging "ad 
Ubitum^^ among a company that would court its presence and welcome its 
inspiration, would marshall its valiant forces and lead them headlong into- 
scenes of wildest folly and most uncalculating and obstreperous revelry 
and riot. 

We speak from the book here, and could possibly call up half a score of College churns^ 
who could now depose to the truth of the counts of the indictment, without the danger 
of implicating themselves in the categories of its averments! 

The location of the College in the suburbs of the City of Lexington vi'ith its 3,000 in- 
habitants,— in the midst of a community unsurpassed in any respect in the State, and 
not often excelled even in any of the older States, we consider an evidence of the good 
favor of Divine Providence toward the Institution, and an indication ot its prosperity 
and perpetuity. Here, young men dare not become vicious, intemperate or levied, and 
expect to be treated with the consideration due to Gentlemen. 

Here, students cannot hope to spend their time in loafering about the streets, or loung- 
ing in the haunts of the idle and the wicked, wiihout having a mark set upon them, that 
nothing but an entire reformation can wipe out. 

At the same time, to the diligent and faithful— the upright and moral Student — a kind 
regard and generous confidence, manifested on all proper occasions, are extended with a 
prompt and cheerful avidity, that evinces the value of a good character, and encourages 
all to maintain inviolate a spotless reputation. 

The Faculty and the Board of Curators, feel how deeply they are indebted to you for 
the exercise of this healthful and salutary influence; and I know that I am not assuming 
too much, in their name and on their behalf, to return sincere and hearty thanks, and 
earnestly and respectfully ask its continuance. 

And now, may we not ask, what is to hinder our increase, prosperity & complete success? 
With a Faculty fully organized, and pledged to their utmost exertions, — with a building 
adequate to the purposes of its erection, — with a Philosophical and Chemical Apparatus, 
fully equal, perhaps, to any within the State, — with an admirable selection of Globes^ 
Maps, Charts, Plates and Diagrams for the illustration of the various studies in all the 
Departments, — and with about 400 volumes of new and beautiful editions of standard 
authors, as the foundation of a Library, to be increased from time to time as we may have 
ability and opportunity to do, why may we not anticipate a career of extended usefulness 
and honorable distinction? 

May the day be not very far distant, when the City of Lexington shall number lO,O00f 
inhabitants, and Masonic College enrol 300 Students. 



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